


Looking Back, Moving Forward

by oriolegirl



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Community: picfor1000, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-22
Updated: 2008-01-22
Packaged: 2017-10-17 11:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/176222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oriolegirl/pseuds/oriolegirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Box contains things that remind him of people he loved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking Back, Moving Forward

**Author's Note:**

> For [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/picfor1000/profile)[**picfor1000**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/picfor1000/); picture prompt is [here](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/picfor1000/challenge%206/04/04-35.jpg). Many thanks to [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/silver_cyanne/profile)[**silver_cyanne**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/silver_cyanne/) for the beta. I started writing this before (m)any details about "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" came out, so this is definitely AU from the end of Doctor Who, series 3.

  
After close to 130 continuous years on Earth, Jack has learned how to let people go, learned to have few possessions, learned to travel light. But there are always a few people Jack can never entirely forget. For them, there is The Box. That's how he thinks of it, in capital letters. Just a rather ordinary wooden box filled with bits and pieces that wouldn't mean much to anyone but him. All things that remind him of people he loved.

Once Jack returns to Cardiff, returns to Torchwood, from the Year That Never Was, he feels an intense need to remember the years that were. He opens The Box one evening after everyone, even Ianto, has left the Hub. He pulls out faded postcards and theatre tickets and the odd coin, quickly setting each item gently aside, until he comes across the colorful tickets bearing the legend "Admit One."

Jack loves Britain. He's spent most of those 130 years in one part of it or another. But every now and then, he had felt the need to return to his supposed roots, to go to America. Fifteen years before, he'd spent a few weeks in New York. Mostly in the City, but he'd also driven around the western part of the state where he'd come across a traveling carnival. It was there that he'd met Steven. They'd spent four glorious nights riding on the Ferris wheel and eating too much junk food before winding up in Steven's bed where Jack had demonstrated just how wonderful sex with another man could be.

Gazing at the tickets, Jack decides it's time for a vacation.

~*~

Jack rents a car and retraces the route he took, all those years ago, as best he can. It's close to two weeks before he stumbles across the carnival.

He hands over the admission fee and is surprised to feel let down when he gets a stamp on the back of his hand instead of a ticket. But he smiles with delight when he comes to the Ferris wheel. Sliding his hands in his pockets, he tips his head back to watch the cars circle around against the night sky.

He's shaken from his reverie when someone calls his name. The brown hair is a little lighter and there are lines around his eyes, but he instantly recognizes the man standing in front of him. "Steven! It's good to see you." He gestures at the Ferris wheel. "Brings back memories, doesn't it?"

Steven smiles, blushing a little. Shaking his head, he takes the arm of another man, whom Jack hadn't noticed, and pulls him closer. "Jack, this is George."

Jack looks at George, then back at Steven. Then his eyes widen because he suddenly gets it. They're together. "George," he says with a grin, holding out his hand, "glad to meet you."

George frowns a bit, says, "I've heard a lot about you."

Jack laughs and says, "Not all of it true, I'm sure."

George looks at Steven and they hold a conversation entirely without words that ends with George shrugging and Steven smiling slightly.

And just like that, Jack's thoughts turn to Cardiff. His team has been calling him once a day, each of them in turn, each asking when he'll be back. Except for Ianto. Ianto asks, "What are you doing, Jack?" Jack has been replying blithely with whatever activity he was in the midst of - eating or reading or taking a walk - even though he knows that's not what Ianto means. Ianto has somehow learned some of Jack's secrets. Ianto knows Jack hasn't gone off on vacation solely for the sake of rest and relaxation; he just hasn't figured out the reason.

Jack is standing there watching Steven and George smile at each other when Ianto calls. "What are you doing, Jack?"

And this time, he says, "Thinking about you, Ianto." He repeats, much more softly, "I'm thinking about you."

Jack hears the slight hitch in Ianto's breathing before Ianto replies, "Oh. I -- I'm happy to hear that, sir."

Jack laughs with pleasure at the sound of that 'sir'; Ianto is always proper. "I'll be back tomorrow, Ianto."

"I'll let the others know; they'll be glad to see you. I'll be glad to see you. Jack."

There's a click as Ianto hangs up and Jack is grinning so hard he thinks his face might break. He's looking forward to getting back to the present and starting on the future. He's done with the past. For now.

~*~

When Jack gets back to the Hub, Tosh and Gwen hug him. Owen says, "So you're back, are you? About time," and turns back to the file he was looking over. Ianto, solemn-faced, nods and makes him a cup of coffee.

It's only later, after everyone has gone home and they're alone in Jack's office, that Ianto shows any emotion. Jack opens his arms and Ianto walks with great dignity right up to him. As Ianto's arms slide around Jack and hold on tight, his fists gripping Jack's shirt, Jack's arms circle Ianto and hold him close.

How long they stand like that, Jack doesn't know. But he does know what Ianto's not saying because Jack has also figured out some of Ianto's secrets. Quietly, Jack says, "I'm not leaving. Not without you and your beautiful Welsh vowels."

Ianto's grip tightens briefly before he pulls back just enough that he can give Jack the patented Ianto Jones 'you think you're amusing, sir, but you're really not' look.

Jack just smiles and cradles Ianto's face in his hands. "Come downstairs with me."

~*~

In the morning, after Ianto is once again immaculately attired and gone to start brewing the coffee, Jack finds a button on the floor. He picks it up, immediately recognizing it as from the suit Ianto was wearing the night before. After studying it for a long moment, Jack puts it in The Box. Then he climbs up the ladder into his office to face the new day.


End file.
